From what I can remember, our drives down in to Mexico when I was a child were never a hurried event. We definitely had our destination at a relative’s home either in Guadalajara or Mexico City, but we took our time on the trip, stopping along the way here and there. I think we may have been in to every church along the way, but I can’t complain, they were/are all beautiful. What did sort of freak me out in most of the churches were the glass sided coffins with effigies of saints in them…very life like, er dead like. One impressive visit included hearing a young boy singing the Ave Maria so incredibly beautifully that I have remembered it all these years. Incredible.

Our night time stops were usually in motels so that we could park the car within sight and ear shot. The car was loaded down with all the encargos, items relatives had requested we bring them from the States that they could not get in Mexico; it would have been impossible to take everything down from the car if we stayed in a hotel. Well, not impossible but that would have required my father to go crazy again trying to make everything fit in the morning. You must understand that this was years ago, no car alarms existed then. My father’s alarm creation consisted of putting soda cans and beer bottles all over the hood and trunk of the car in hopes that any potential thief would knock one or more down trying to get at the goods and we could then spring out of the room and scare the thief away.